ABSTRACT
Objective: To detect the protein expression and relationship between integrin-linked kinase (ILK) and E-cadherin (E-cad) in primary gallbladder cancer (PGC), as well as to evaluate their clinical significance. Methods:ILK and E-cad were examined in 48 cases with PGC, 25 with gallbladder adenoma and 25 with chronic cholecystitis tissues by immunohistochemistry. Then, the corre-lation between clinical and pathological features, as well as their relationship, was investigated. Results:The positive rate of ILK was significantly higher in the gallbladder cancer group (66.7%;32/48) than in the gallbladder adenoma (36.0%;9/25) and chronic cholecys-titis groups (24.0%;6/25) (P<0.05). However, the positive rate of E-cad, namely, 45.8%(22/48), was significantly lower than those of the benign groups (P<0.05). When the depth of invasion was aggravated and lymph node metastasis had occurred, the ILK expression level became significantly higher. Nevertheless, negative E-cad results were produced (P<0.05). A negative correlation between the ex-pression of ILK and E-cad in gallbladder cancer existed (r=-0.411, P<0.05). Conclusion:The expression of ILK and E-cad is signifi-cantly correlated with tumor invasion and metastasis. A negative correlation exists between these expressions. Detection of these two in-dexes is useful in predicting tumor progression and prognosis.